Aggression meets innovation in Impulse vs. Gravity's battle for No. 1
In Week 8 of the North American LCS, Gravity's jungler Move was a hero. He stole two Dragons against Team Dignitas on Vi and went for an even bigger prize against Team 8. Diving into the Baron pit on two separate occasions he successfully punched the objective away, landing Gravity in 1st place.
Now, the innovative squad head into the final weekend of the regular NA LCS season against the hyper-aggressive Team Impulse, and there's a lot at stake for both teams as they head in to the NA LCS Week 9 Game of the Week!
Kings of the Jungle
TIP's own jungler Yoon-jae "Rush" Lee describes Gravity best: "They're a fun, fun team. They use a lot of champions, especially in mid or jungle," he says. "They're fun to play against and they're fun to watch."
Rush himself has been awesome to watch in the Summer Split, too. As one of the stars for Team Impulse, the self-described aggressive jungler may be known for his Lee Sin, but he's taken control of games this Split on his favorite champion, Nidalee. In last week's victory against Team SoloMid, Rush was a serious threat. He was unkillable, prowling through the jungle and creating pressure in every lane with his devastating long-rage spears to extend the advantages of his team.
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Keep guessing
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But we can't talk about champion picks in this match without mentioning Gravity's remarkable mid laner, Lae-Young "Keane" Jang. This split, he's brought 10 different champions down mid, including popular meta picks as well as a few surprises like Rumble, Malphite, Jarvan IV, and Hecarim, to name a few. He may have had a rough past week, but Team Impulse know he's still a serious threat, and he smirks at the thought. "[They're afraid of me] because I can counterpick the mid lane...I think that's the reason."
As for Gravity's matchup against TIP? Keane's similarly confident. "I think we'll win," he claims. "We have the better laners and jungle, and we have a stronger team fight." Gravity's fearless top laner Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell is a great initiator. And with Michael "Bunny FuFuu" Kurylo setting 'em up to be knocked down by the dynamic Johnny "Altec" Ru, Keane's right to feel confident in Gravity's team-fighting prowess against TIP.
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"The only thing I think we need to worry about is they can pick us off really well," he says. In lane before a team fight, TIP's known to go for picks, Keane points out. And that's where Move's penchant for both laying down and destroying wards will be crucial for Gravity.
Open the Gates
Another important factor heading into the Game of the Week will be how TIP's newest addition Austin "Gate" Yu adapts to playing mid lane on the NA LCS stage. (Starter Yu "XiaoWeiXiao" Xian has been suspended pending investigation for the match.) As a former Challenger Series mid laner, he showed promise in his first match with TIP against Team Dragon Knights, but now he's facing off against Keane, which is scary for anyone, let alone a player with one career NA LCS start.
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Rush and Team Impulse have confidence in him though. His spark for making big plays is why TIP picked him up in the first place. "Gate is good at trying to do aggressive plays, that's why we chose him," Rush reveals. "He needs more experience, but he has potential."
While Gate may be new to the NA LCS, TIP's World Champion top laner Eon-yeong "Impact" Jung has proven to be a steady carry all split. He'll bring plenty of map pressure against Gravity, and with the return of support Adrian "Adrian" Ma this week, we could also see some additional aggression come out of the bottom lane between him and Apollo "Apollo" Price.
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Team Impulse may look a bit vulnerable, but they are riding a seven-game win streak. Will they adapt to their shuffling lineup or will Gravity pick up the 1st place seed heading into the NA LCS Playoffs? Find out this Saturday in the NA LCS Game of the Week, right here on Lolesports!
Leah Jackson is a web content editor at Lolesports. She loves Gnar! Feel free to follow her on Twitter @Leahbjackson.
